Germany want revenge for U.S. defeat

Germany will be out to banish the memory of last year's friendly defeat to the U.S. when the sides meet in an eagerly-awaited reunion of Jurgen Klinsmann and his former Germany assistant boss Joachim Low.

Klinsmann's U.S. team beat a weakened Germany XI 4-3 in a summer friendly, and striker Miroslav Klose -- the World Cup's joint-record scorer after his strike against Ghana -- said the result would motivate Low's players in their crucial World Cup clash on Thursday.

Only six of the 17 players who represented Germany in that friendly defeat are in the World Cup squad, but Klose said the result had not been forgotten -- and nor had the fact that they were facing Klinsmann, who guided a rejuvenated Germany to the semi-finals in 2006.

"He [Klinsmann] will want to own us, and we also want to own him," Klose told kicker. "We need to correct the 4-3 from last year.

"The U.S. team's 2-2 draw with Portugal wasn't too bad for us. But we want to beat the Americans. It will not be easy. We need to have good possession of the ball."

"The showdown is a thing for the media," it quoted Low as saying. "But we have a mutual trust, and complemented each other for two years [in their Germany roles]. Our friendship will not be damaged, whatever the result is."